Defining SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection needing hospitalization in mass vaccination era: from disease-centered to patient-centered care.

After the implementation of mass vaccination campaigns, breakthrough infections by SARS-CoV-2 are being increasingly observed worldwide, due to high pervasiveness of viral spread, emergence of novel variants, progressive ease of restrictive measures and waning protection against infection. Although breakthrough infections have generally lower clinical severity than COVID-19 in unvaccinated subjects, a consistent number of patients may still require hospitalization. These patients are generally old, frail and with a high number of comorbidities.

The impact of intestinal microbiota on bio-medical research: definitions, techniques and physiology of a "new frontier".

In recent years the metagenomics techniques have allowed to study composition and function of the intestinal microbiota. The microbiota is a new frontier of biomedical research to be explored and there is growing evidence of its fundamental health-promoting activity. The present review gives a synthetic overview on the characteristics and the role of the microbiota in the adult with particular reference to physiology, pathophysiology and relationships with the host and the environment.

Digestive disorders and Intestinal microbiota.

In the last decade, a barge body of scientific literature has suggested that specific alterations of the gut microbiota may be associated with ther development and clinical course of several gastrointestinal diseases, including irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, gastrointestinal cancer and Clostridium difficile infection. These alterations are often referred to as "dysbiosis", a generic term designing reduction of gut microbiota biodiversity and alterations in its composition. Here, we provide a synthetic overview of the key concepts on the relationship between intestinal microbiota and gastrointestinal diseases, focusing on the translation of these concepts into clinical practice.